Constitutional Immigration Reform

Using the National Guard, we should secure our borders immediately. Then, end the federal nanny state and replace the 16th amendment with a consumption based “fair-tax.” These actions will halt illegal immigration and make legal immigrants both needed and welcome.

One of the core functions of the United States Government, as articulated by the preamble of the Constitution, is to “insure the domestic Tranquility…” Article I § 9 gives the Congress the power to prohibit the migration of persons to the US after 1808. Article IV § 3 authorizes the Congress to “make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States.” Article I § 8 gives Congress the authority to say who is a citizen and who is not and allows the Congress to use the militia to execute the laws of the Union. Taken together, this means that Congress can decide and set the laws of immigration/naturalization and enforce them, using the militia if necessary, to prevent illegal immigration. Such action is completely Constitutional and concurrent with the inherent power of sovereigns and the written intentions of the founders.

From this perspective we must now consider, again from the preamble, that the founders also indented our government to be able to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity (children).” We must also consider that a very large segment of the population, at the time of the Constitution’s ratification, were immigrants and that much of the nations continued population growth and prosperity relied upon robust immigration. Thus, we can conclude that the founders did not want to overly restrict immigration but they did want to make sure that it occurred in an orderly fashion so as to “insure the domestic Tranquility,” while at the same time “provide for the common defense.”

Completely in compliance with all these considerations mentioned, our Republic will continue to prosper from a healthy and robust immigration policy that prevents human trafficking, smuggling, immigration of terrorists/pirates/felons and the importation of weapons of mass destruction. The overarching problem, currently, is not the individual immigrant; it is the illegal and unconstitutional nanny-state. Providing “free” social services artificially increases illegal immigration through enticements. However, these social services are not free; they must be paid for by legal citizens. This disparity of who pays and who rides for free could and should end if we take back our Congress and end the unconstitutional federal social programs that create the enticements in the first place. Once no one is receiving illegal federal welfare, and states are no longer federally mandated to provide services to illegal immigrants on the backs of their own citizens, allowing for an expanded and robust immigration policy would be beneficial to all and in keeping with the free market for labor. Furthermore, abolishing the 16th amendment and switching to a consumption-based “fair tax” would create a reason to want legal immigration since the additional producers in our labor market would help us pay back our near astronomical national debt.